CAPTAIN AMERICA

Avengers week continues. After a few second stringers I’ve decided to break out one of the big guns, perhaps the biggest gun: Captain America. It’s hard to think Avengers without thinking Captain America. He’s been leading the Avengers since issue #4 came out in 1964. He’s left a few times for various reasons (becoming an enemy of the state, death) but he never stays away for long. The other day I was walking home with a friend from work and her younger sister. The sister had seen Avengers on the weekend and we started discussing it. She found Captain America to be the weak link of the team and inquired about what he brings to the table besides being strong when there are already so many other stronger members. “What does Cap bring to the table?” I gasped. Cap is the table. Without Captain America there is no Avengers. As they conveyed pretty well in the movie, the Avengers are made up of a lot of big personalities. Cap is the one with the military background, he defeated the Nazi’s for gods sake. He’s the one with the honor and is perhaps one of the most selfless Marvel characters. He’s the one who all the other heroes respect enough to stop and listen to when he speaks. In the movie Cap stops Iron Man and Thor from fighting each other, he directs the police and helps them regain a chain of command during a chaotic alien invasion, he convinces the other skeptical heroes to put their concerns and grudges aside long enough to save the world, he gives orders to the Hulk, he commands respect and rightfully so. Did you see the Captain America solo movie? If not, go do so right now….done? Did you see him jump on the grenade? Did you see his sacrifice at the end of the film? Captain America is the cat’s pajamas.

My favorite Cap cover. By Mike Zeck.

I will say the weakest thing about the whole Avengers film in my mind was Captain America’s uniform. He looks sillier than the others. It wasn’t as bad in his solo movie so whatever changes they made were not good ones. Luckily he spends a good portion of the movie with his mask off and he looks much better that way. Now onto the figure. I dove (dived?) back into my tub of 90s era marvel figures for this one. I have a wide variety of better Captain America figures which were produced more recently but I figured I might as well review this one since I have the tub out anyway. This figure is not from the 90s Avengers line like the Wonder Man and Hawkeye I recently reviewed. I probably should have bought that one as it was pretty decent. This figure is actually part of the Spider-Man line based on Spidey’s 90s toon. It’s okay but I don’t love it. Everything is fine really except for the head. It looks too mean and brutish. Cap of course gets mad sometimes but I think they should have went for a different expression here. His chin is so big and cartoony that he looks like Buzz Lightyear to me. The body is fine, a little mis-proportioned but it works for the style of the figure. The shield is nice and I like the chain-mail detailing on the chest. The colors are a little off, darker shades would have been better but that’s not a major issue. One of the wings broke off of my cap’s head which drives me absolutely nuts and seals this guy’s fate as forever living in a plastic tub in the closet, never to be displayed again. 5 out of 10.

I was never a fan of Captain America. Maybe just because he was such an American hero. But to be honest, I think he was one of the most entertaining characters in The Avengers film. Him and Hulk were both really well done, I thought.

I really liked Cap’s solo movie but i gotta say Hulk stole the show in The Avengers. I understand that Captain America is sometimes viewed as a boy scout, too wholesome like Superman and thus boring. Current Capt. writer Ed Brubaker who has been on the book the past several years as done alot to change that. For a while Cap didn’t kill anybody which is retarded, he’s a soldier. Brubaker gave him his balls back.

I missed this review when it first published. Followed the link from the current Super Soldier 5th Of July review. I would know what line this figure came from with out being told and seeing the package. It screams “90s Spider-Man Cartoon!!!!!!”. Just consider the broken wing battle damage. Or send it to me and never have to worry about it again 🙂